CLASS OF 1986 | 2026 | SPRING ISSUE

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We’re getting closer and closer to our 40th Reunion, classmates. Debbie and I hope to see you there. 

As for class notes,we have some very sad news to report. Sharon Alison Kost passed away peacefully at her home on December 16, 2025, attended by her beloved husband, Sam Koszer, and sons, Joshua and Bryan Koszer, following a courageous and determined battle with multiple health problems. Sharon earned her BA in biology, psychology, and philosophy in 1986 at Wesleyan, an MS at New York University in psychology, before completing clinical training at the Ackerman Institute for Family. Her obituary notes that her career as a social worker was a true calling, where she offered compassion, guidance, and unwavering support to those in need. 

Erika Levy shares that she is still enjoying her work as professor of communication sciences and disorders at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is very much looking forward to our reunion, not only to reconnect with fellow ’86ers, but also to celebrate her daughter’s graduation from Wesleyan.

Eric Heinze writes: “My latest news is the publication, with the MIT Press, of Coming Clean: The Rise of Critical Theory and the Future of the Left. It is featured in a number of news outlets and podcasts, in the U.S. and internationally, including New Books Network, hosted by Caleb Zakarin ’20. [My] op-ed for Merion West on Trump’s destruction of free speech is currently featuring in their Top 10 of 2025.

Kris Bluemel announced that she “is proud and relieved to report that my book Enchanted Wood: Engraving a Place for Women Artists in Rural Britain was published around Christmastime by the University of Minnesota Press. It has nearly 90 illustrations, so you don’t have to read it to enjoy it. You can just admire the wood engravings. Research for Enchanted Wood was supported by a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at Newcastle University and a publication grant of the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’m still professor of English and Wayne D. McMurray and Helen Bennett Endowed Chair in the Humanities at Monmouth University. Very recently, I’ve moved into a position of associate dean at Monmouth, finding myself a late but eager bloomer in academic administration. George Justice, who I did not know when we were English majors, has been a great help with emails and published advice.” 

Ethan Knowlden reports: “Retirement for me turned into sitting on three nonprofit boards, which somehow wasn’t feeding my desire to serve sufficiently, so I’m now a candidate for city council here in Scottsdale, Arizona. My first campaign since running for class president in eighth grade—which I won. This will take up most of my 2026, but I still plan on attending our 40th Reunion. Hope to see you all there!”

Mike Sealander writes: “I’ve spent the last 25 years in eastern Maine, pretending to be back to the land while running a small commercial architecture firm. I’ve become obsessed with achieving bilingual status (Japanese). Any classmates or nearly classmates who want to relive conversation hour, feel free to reach out.”

Monica Jahan Bose writes: “Hello, from occupied Washington, D.C.!  We are hanging in there during this deeply disturbing time for our nation. I am continuing my art and activism. I am collaborating with a young Black artist friend, Autumn Spears, on a duo project called ‘Braids & Threads: Connecting Legacies’ at Washington Project for the Arts in Dupont Circle. If you are in D.C., please get in touch. Michael Bennett ’87 and I are still in D.C. and our two girls are women now. One graduates from Bryn Mawr in May and wants to be a vet, and the other is in grad school in Portland, Oregon, for nursing/midwifery and is soon getting married. In the past year, I have seen classmates Kathryn Lotspeich Villano and Susan Lanham and had phone visits with Sarah Porter, Debbie Alter-Starr, and Julia Joun. I am reading Kristen Bluemel’s new book, Enchanted Woods. I highly recommend it! Sending New Year wishes for resilience to my Wes friends!”

News from Tierney Sutton: “40 YEARS! Good lord. I should have known based on the fact that my son, Ryan, is almost 30. He is a competitive video gamer and travels as much as I do. I’m married to a Parisian guitarist, Serge Merlaud, and for the last 10-plus years, I split my off-the-road time between LA and Paris. (Trying to convince Serge that LA really is nicer from November to March.) This spring I will release my 16th (or 17th) CD as leader. It’s entitledSpring and is a duo set with piano virtuoso Tamir Hendelman. I’ll be touring throughout 2026: in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Cleveland, Buffalo, Nashville, Ann Arbor, Green Bay, Denver, Durham, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Paris, Brussels, Tel Aviv, and more. . .  The tour climaxes on May 22 at Wesleyan for the 40th Reunion! Sure hope to see you guys (there) OR on the road! For more information: tierneysutton.com.”

Bennett Schneider writes: “I was officially hired by the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles as a performer for their annual music education plays that teach school kids about classical music. Just marked the 30th anniversary of the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which I helped found. This means I’ve been an orange drag nun for 30 years now! Karen Escovitz sent me some pieces of her beautiful pottery last spring. Have been hanging out with Lisa Rosen, Al Septien ’85, Wan Yeung MA ’17, and talking to Melinda Newman, Nathan Gebert ’85, Cobina Gillitt ’87, Ellen (Limburg) Santistevan, Peter Braverman, Raph Worrick ’88, Julia Barclay-Morton, Pauline Frommer ’88, Peter Wetherbee ’85, and just had a visit with Debbie Alter-Starr.”

Jonathan Harber reports: “One project that I have been working on (as founding chairman) is Runway Green (www.RUNWAYGREEN.org), a nonprofit, public-private partnership that is reimagining education and workforce development. It is creating pathways for New York City students and families to thrive and build a better world. In partnership with the National Park Service, we are developing an unprecedented education and workforce development ecosystem on some of our region’s most ecologically rich parklands at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field. I, strangely, also just record an album.”

Jeff Liss reports: “My wife and I have settled into living in Turtle Bay on the east side of Manhattan. I now work for a large distributor of dental and medical products and services, responsible for business-to-business eCommerce. I am counting down the days to early retirement when I can follow one of my passions, which is to be a New York City tour guide. I passed the exam last year to get licensed and have started slowly offering walking tours to friends and family. If you are visiting, or live in, New York City, I’d be happy to tell you about the history and stories of Midtown East! Check me out at www.beyondthesights.nyc.”

Lydia Crawford writes: “I retired from my legal career in 2024, with a goal of sitting less—and now I wonder if my body can keep that up! I volunteer at a food shelf and deliver food to elders. I got my lifeguard certification (humbling to be in the class with mostly 16-year-old high school swimmers), so my actual job is lifeguarding a few hours a week, with the benefit of free membership to the community center where I swim and take exercise classes. My husband, Phil, and I adopted a stretch of highway in Minnesota, so we regularly pick up trash—we always find a few interesting items and then dream up stories of how a manual typewriter, a bottle of olive oil, or 50 pounds of butchered venison came to rest by the side of Highway 30. We have traveled a bit more, including some backpacking trips in Colorado and California, and will hike part of the Inca Trail in May. Our two adult children are gainfully employed and living in the Twin Cities, so we see them fairly often. Minnesota has been my home for 35 years and it is a wonderful place, contrary to the negative and disturbing attention the state has received of late.”

Dana Leslie Goldstein writes that she is a playwright and lyricist living in Brooklyn, New York. Her play, Go Down, Moses, which was inspired by events at Wesleyan in the ’80s, will have its premiere production in NYC in May 2026. “It would be great to see Wes alumni there!” Dana is also working on a commission to write the new musical, Song of Judith, for National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and KEAKA Productions. And she was lucky enough to have James Hallett in the cast of her musical CHOICE(s) last spring. Dana is a librettist and lyricist in the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and also develops her work with PlayGround–NY, Brave New World Rep, and The Workshop Theater.Dana’s husband, Rob McIntosh, not a Wes alum himself, frequently games with Jonathan Fried ’89, who is one of the few people around with a more expansive board game collection than Rob and Dana’s. Nerds! Dana’s kids (also nerds) are grown and now live in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, which means she finally needed to face her fear of flying, a subject that comes up (usually comedically) in several of her plays.  

Ellen (Limburg) Santistevan writes: “2025 was a uniquely challenging year personally as well as nationally. The good outweighed the bad, as it usually does, if I put my mind to it.  

In addition to my bodywork practice, I teach a fair bit of continuing education. I also took a part-time job at a motorcycle repair shop, a fun way to change up my environment and skill set so my brain doesn’t fossilize. I am thoroughly enjoying the chance to be in ‘beginners mind’ and not having to be an expert in my field.

“I purchased a 1968 Harley Davidson/Aermacchi Rapido as a restoration project. I joined the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA), and my chapter mates and friends have been an invaluable resource for getting the bike roadworthy. After getting her all the way down to the frame, we are now rebuilding, and it is so satisfying to see the bike come back together. The AMCA is a true nerd herd; I have a special admiration for these geniuses.

“I have been dealing with hypercalcemia for over a year, which has a variety of unpleasant effects. Luckily, it did not turn out to be a sign of multiple myeloma, but a benign parathyroid tumor. Unluckily, the only cure is surgery (in January). 

“Travel highlights in 2025 included a road trip to help my daughter bring her 1972 VW Beetle from Tucson to a mechanic in Minneapolis, where she now lives. We trailered it through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and finally Minnesota. We had a blast. I came home on a different route and hit little roadside attractions and Americana. I think every person, especially national politicians, should trek through the Heartland and see what it’s about. My second big adventure was going to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for the 85th anniversary. 

Tim Burke and Karen Escovitz have asked me to go (to the 40th Reunion), but I am somewhat allergic to reunions.”

“It’s been a busy year for me (Scott Michaud) between work and play—I’m still speechwriting for the U.S. Space Force, helping shape the culture of the newest branch of our nation’s military. This recently included a behind-the-scenes visit to Kennedy Space Center for a rocket launch . . .  amazing technology by very, very smart people. I’m still learning from these space nerds daily, although, unsurprisingly, I’m still a long way from becoming a rocket scientist. In October, I gave a presentation at the Professional Speechwriters Association World Conference on the challenges and benefits of speechwriting in the federal government, a topic that is near and dear to my heart. And, yes, it is more challenging now than ever.

“In more personal news, my eldest daughter was diagnosed with ADHD, which led my wife and I to the uncomfortable realization that we’d both been living with similar symptoms. We’re adjusting to this and taking some comfort in the knowledge that we’ve lived our lives the way we have with good reason. Now we are rolling up our sleeves to ensure our two daughters are better equipped to navigate the modern world than we were growing up. Apologies to my classmates who had to put up with Scott’s ‘Small Attention Span Theater’ way back when.”

Debbie Alter-Starradds, “I’m really looking forward to our reunion as a chance to travel East to see old friends from Wesleyan—it’s been a while. When my husband and I travel, it’s usually “off-grid” (hiking, kayaking, nature immersion) in our campervan and/or to spend time with family and close friends. For several years—last time was in in fall, 2021—travel was also to Ukraine to visit our older son. Both our grown sons live in Northern California now and are going into my field as therapists and/or social workers with a public policy orientation respectively—cracks me up! We see them a lot and took them and their partners to Puerto Vallarta last spring to celebrate my cancer-free status. 

“I became a clinical social worker after being an RA at Wesleyan and receiving encouragement to become a therapist. My passion is more so activism and being a social worker at large, helping people who don’t know where to turn. I’m now retired, following my passions and taking care of my 89-year-old mother. My lifelong dream I keep working on is building community across Spanish- and English-speaking populations and diverse cultural groups here in the Napa Valley. Our young people and their parents are over 50% Latino, and our agricultural industry (grapes) was built by, and is maintained by, immigrants. I would like to network with fellow alumni working on immigration issues.

“I picked up Kris Bluemel’s new book, and I have Elaine Taylor-Klaus’s older book, The Essential Guide to Raising Complex Kids. I’m hoping to pick Elaine’s brains re: ADHD, which runs in my family too. I love Jennifer Natalya Fink’s (’88) books as well.”